176 
Greenhouse and Stove Plants. 
FITTONIA., 
tough texture requisite to enable them to 
last long in good condition. By autumn 
the young stock will have made con- 
siderable progress; reduce the tempera- 
ture before winter, when 60° at night 
will answer ; give less water during winter, 
but the soil must not be allowed to get so 
dry as to injure the foliage. Give addi- 
tional pot-room in spring and treat them 
as before in the matter of heat, air, water, 
and shade. If afforded sufficient room 
they will grow large, but for most 
purposes it will generally be found better 
to retain them only so long as they are 
within a limited size, and to propagate 
young plants to take the place of the old 
ones. 
The following will be found to be de- 
sirable kinds :— 
F. Cooperti. A large-growing, handsome 
species, the leaves of which are deep green, 
and the midrib and nerves bright crimson. 
A native of Australia. 
F. dealbata. A stout-growing, bushy 
plant, with leaves from 10 to 12 inches long, 
green above, silvery-white beneath. From 
Peru. 
F. eburnea. This comes from the East 
Indies ; its leaves are from 14 to 18 inches 
in length by 8 or 10 inches in width, ob- 
long-elliptic in shape. 
F. elastica. An Indian species that 
thrives much the quickest in stove heat, 
but will live and grow in a temperature 
little above that of a greenhouse. Its bold, 
glossy leaves and vigorous constitution are 
well known; it is one of the best room 
plants in cultivation. 
F. elegans. This species has large leaves, 
cordate-ovate, 20 inches or more in length; 
the young shoots and petioles are covered 
with a downy coat, not unlike that of some 
Rhopalas. A native of Java. 
F. exsculpata. This has elegant leaves 
with prominent lobes, the divisions being 
deeply cut so as to give the plant an ap- 
pearance like that of some of the denser 
fronded Ferns. It comes from the South 
Sea Islands. 
F. Parcellii. This is a very distinct 
species from the South Sea Islands ; it is 
a free grower ; the leaves are handsomely 
variegated, dark green and white. 
F. Porteana. A stately species, with 
deep green, thick, glossy leaves of large 
size. Philippine Islands. 
Insects.—Few insects affect these plants 
so as to give much trouble ; the syringing 
to which they are subjected during the 
growing season is generally sufficient to 
keep them clean. When anything further 
is required, syringe freely with, or dip the 
plants in, insecticide. 
FICUS. 
(Greenhouse. ) 
The two forms of creeping Ficus, F. 
repens and F. repens minima, are often 
used as greenhouse climbers with good 
effect for covering walls, for which pur- 
pose they are well adapted by their close 
climbing habit and compact foliage. 
Their propagation is of the easiest 
possible description ; they will strike from 
shoot-cuttings at any time of the yearPin 
a little warmth, in sand and loam or peat ; 
when they are rooted give larger pots, or 
at once plant them out where they are to 
be grown. The flowers are insignificant. 
They come from India. 
Insects.—Aphides sometimes affect the 
young shoots, for which fumigate. If 
troubled with scale syringe when at rest 
with insecticide. 
FITTONIA. 
These are evergreen stove herbaceous 
plants of dwarf habit, with compact foliage 
covered with a beautiful variegated netted 
venation, that stands out prominently from 
the ground colour of the leaves, which in 
some of the kindsis bright green, in others 
of a dark reddish-brown hue. The plants 
have succulent stems that root freely, as 
they spread on the surface, into any loose 
or earthy matter within their reach ; for 
this reason they are most useful for cloth- 
ing the surface of stages and inside borders 
of warm plant-houses, to effect which no- 
thing further is required than to prepare 
a few inches of the top with loose material, 
such as a mixture of peat or loam with a 
little leaf-mould and plenty of sand to 
keep it open. This should be done in 
spring just as growth commences, after 
which the young plants should be trans- 
ferred to the spaces prepared for them ; 
they may consist of crowns with three 
or four joints each that have been struck 
in the ordinary way by putting them a 
few inches apart in large pans filled with 
sand, kept moist and close for a week or 
two. 
Fittonias are very useful for filling 
hanging baskets, or for covering the sur- 
face, both top and bottom, of baskets con- 
taining other plants, as they will root and 
thrive in the Moss that is generally used 
for lining the baskets if this is only kept 
moist, for it is well to observe that they 
require a continually moist medium for 
their roots. They also look well grown in 
large pans and allowed to hang over the 
sides, covering the whole with a dense 
growth of their exceedingly pretty leaves. 
